Columbus Panhandles

In this episode on our journey through the early pro teams that built the NFL into what it is today, Author Chris Willis tells us the legendary story of the Columbus Panhandles and what made them the early NFL's toughest team.

The origins and backstory of the Panhandles team are deeply interesting. The team was made up mostly of workers for the Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle Division in Columbus, a group that did the maintenance on the locomotives that were in Central Ohio around the turn of the century. They were mainly from European immigrant families, and their tough upbringing and demanding jobs made them pretty strong men. Most of the players learned the game not from college but from the lunchtime practices at the rail yards with men such as the group's organizer, William Butler, who had played collegiately at the Ohio Medical School against competition like Ohio State. 

A few years later, an enterprising young machinist at the Panhandle Division, Joe Carr, became the team's manager and scheduled more competitive games against not only other Columbus area teams but from nearby cities like Akron, Dayton, Toledo, and, of course, Youngstown, Massillon, and Canton.

 Half of the team for most of the Panhandle's existence were the famous Nesser brothers, as 6 of the eight were recorded playing for the Columbus squad. The Pro Football Hall of Fame officially listed the brothers Nesser as Al, Frank, Fred, John, Phil, and Ted. John Schnieder, a teammate of the NEsser’s, even married one of the family's sisters to make it truly a family affair for the Panhandles and the Nesser family. 

For more on the Columbus Panhandles history:

Please listen to our discussion with Author Chris Willis, who hails from the Columbus area and did some deep dive research on this team and these people in his two fantastic books. The Columbus Panhandles: A Complete History of Pro Football's Toughest Team 1900-1922  as well as his other awesome book on the subject The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr.